Love Before the Battlefield
by SkunkDucky
Summary: Dakota Bowerstone was never for the Civil War and secession. Yet, she finds herself at a small party for the Union. That's where she meets Robert Shaw, a handsome Colonel-to-be. When Robert offers to hire her as his personal aid, their friendship deepens and blossoms to a new level. But, in the midst of secrets and life-threatening incidents, will the raging war tear them apart?
1. Chapter 1

I was never for the Civil War, nor the Southern secession. Yet here I was, getting into my best gown for a ball, celebrating the Union's first victory. I put a white Daisy in my hair and give a twirl.

"Perfect," I say. A knock on the front door tells me my ride is here. I take one last look at myself to make sure nothing was messed up, then I run to the door and yank it open.

"You're stagecoach awaits," a small plump man bows and leads me to a horse drawn wagon.

"Thank you," I say. I hop into the wagon and nod to the driver.

"Beautiful as always," he says, beaming at me.

"You know I hate dresses, so just spare me the humiliation," I say, smiling back (I really don't like dresses)

In a few minutes, we arrive at a mansion. I can hear the talking and clinking of glasses.

"Thanks again," I say to the driver as he helps me out of the wagon.

"No problem. Try not to let your dress ruin your fun," he says with a wink, and I start down the path to the mansion. The door swings open, and I step inside. Elegant piano music enters my ears, and the smell of food makes my mouth water.

"Hello. I'm Thomas," a voice says to my left. I turn my head. It's a colored man with circle lens and very short hair.

"Oh, I'm Dakota," I say, giving a nod of my head.

"Nice to meet you," Thomas says. He looks over my shoulder.

"Excuse me," he says and walks past me. I follow him with my eyes and see him approach a man, who looked around my age. He had brown hair with a mustache and a small beard. His eyes were dark brown, but not too shiny. His uniform tells me that he serves in the Union army. He looks my way, and our eyes lock until there's a bang. He jumps, and spills some of his drink. Thomas helps him by taking the cup. I feel a twinge of pity, for he must've been emotionally scarred by the battle. Two people, a man and a woman whom I assume we're the man's parents, come out and lead him to another room. I look into a mirror and see my cheeks are slightly red. I place my hands on them.

Minutes later, the man comes back out, a surprised look on his face. He walks out the door, and Thomas as well as a taller blonde man follows. Another few minutes, and they come back in.

"Ladies and gentlemen, choose your partners!" A voice booms over the chatter. Immediately, men and women begin pairing up. I look down at the floor and begin making my way towards the wall, but I bump into someone. I whirl around and find myself staring into the brown eyes of the man.

"Would you like to dance?" He asks, holding out a gloved hand. I hesitate a moment, my heartbeat increasing. Finally, I take it.

"I'd love to dance," I say, and we walk out to the center. He turns to me and places a hand on my waist and held my other hand, while I placed my free hand on his shoulder.

"What's your name?" He asks as we dance.

"Dakota Bowerstone," I reply.

"Lovely name," he says with a smile. I smile back shyly, feeling my face getting pink.

"What about yours?" I ask.

"I'm Robert Shaw," he says.

"Nice," I say and we both chuckle some. We danced the rest of the night and got acquainted. Apparently he is going to be colonel of a colored troop, which I thought was splendid.

"I must go now. I have to look at all the volunteers," he says as he pulls away from me with some reluctance I notice.

"Wait. I must ask, could I volunteer? Not to fight, but maybe as a personal help or a nurse?" I ask.

"I don't see why not. You would be wonderful to have around," Robert says with a wink.

"Shall we meet after this event?" He asks.

"Yes. I'll wait outside the front door," I reply with a smile.

"Perfect," he beams. He gives a bow and walks out. My heart is thumping. First, I just met the most wonderful man. Second, I was going to get to work on the battlefield, which will allow me to spend more time getting to know Robert.

"What a perfect day," I sigh, and I go to the front door and watch Robert mount his horse and observe the volunteers.


	2. Note to readers

Hello guys! Thanks for reading my Glory fanfic, a work in progress. It's one of my tp 5 favorite movies ^_^ anyways, just a warning that I rated it M because in the future there's gonna be a few...*cough* intimate *cough* scenes between Dakota and Robert, so spoiler alert that they're gonna be together ;) also there's gonna be violence sooooo... But if you ever see an asterisk (*) before somehing that usually will mean an intimate or gory scene, so if you would prefer to skip those scenes, then just keep a look out for the asterisk. You probably already guessed that Robert Shaw turned into a character I became fond of in the movie. I also like another character that Matthew Broderick plays: Ferris Bueller :P (save ferris! XD)Anyways, hope you are enjoying my story so far!

-SkunkDucky


	3. Chapter 2

Once the volunteers have been registered, Robert walks over to me on a brown horse, leading a black horse.

"Here, this can be your horse. It was one of mine, but I'll give him to you," he says, holding out the horse's reigns to me. I take them and stroke the horse's smooth neck.

"Does he have a name?" I ask, looking up at Robert. He chuckles.

"Yes. His name is Uncle Sam," he says, and we share a chuckle. Still holding the reigns, I remove the bottom of my dress and set it inside. I'm wearing black pants with brown boots. Robert looks surprised. As I mount Uncle Sam, he asks,"Is this your manner of dress?"

"Yes. Surprised by it?" I reply with a sly grin.

"Actually, it's different, and I like it," he says. I look away, slightly blushing. "Excuse me," Robert says with a bow of his head.

"Attention, company!" The blonde man I saw earlier yells. He's on a darker brown horse.

"You will all follow me to our station," Robert says loudly. "Now form lines of four rows and walk!"

All the volunteers do what he says. Robert looks to me and flicks his head towards the side of the walking men.

"Ride beside them over there," he says with a salute. I salute back, and Robert winks. I trot Uncle Sam to the side and watch as Robert goes over to the opposite side.

After a bit, we enter one of the camps. All the soldiers begin calling the volunteers filthy names. I clench my teeth and lower my head. I hated it when colored people were disrespected. They are humans just like us!

"Aww look. I think we've made the little lady upset," one of the soldiers notices me and says that. I close my eyes for a quick minute.

"Why don't you come to me some time and I'll make you feel better?" another soldier says, and they all burst out in laughter. I'm about to say something, but Robert comes trotting in.

"Attention men!" He barks. The men immediately salute.

"You will leave this lady alone! Understand?" He growls.

"Understood, sir!" The men reply.

"Good. At ease," Robert says before coming up beside me.

"Don't bother with them. They haven't seen a woman in weeks," he sighs.

"It's alright. I understand," I say.

A while later, we arrive at our camp. I dismount Uncle Sam and hand him to a man who was offering to tie up the horses. I find a tent somewhat away from everyone else. Inside, there was an oil lamp, pen and ink, and a cot. I sigh.

Welcome to war camp.


	4. Chapter 3

It was nightfall now. I was sitting in my cot, staring up at the blank ceiling of the tent. My stomach grumbled. Dinner is currently being served, but I skipped it for... personal reasons. I sigh. Why was I so wrong? I thought about maybe finding Thomas, but I knew he would most likely be eating. I thought about finding Robert, but he was away at a dinner with higher officers. I hear a rustle at the entrance of my tent and sit up. Its the blonde man. He reminded me of what my father looked like, and I wonder if he could be...

"Hello," I greet the man and salute.

"At ease, girl," the man chuckles. He looks as old as Robert, so its possible that he could be someone close to me. "Im Major Forbes. Nice to meet you," he says with a bow.

"Likewise," I reply.

"Sorry for intruding, but I have to ask..." he says. "But your last name is Bowerstone, is it not?"

A jolt goes down my spine. How did he know?

"Yes, it is," I say slowly.

The man's eyes begin shining.

"Dakota?" He whispers. "Its me."

My heart stops. It is him.

A long time ago, before we were born, my father married my mother. They conceived me the night of their wedding. Little did my mother know, he also had a one night stand with another woman the same night. Years later, when I was about 12, my mother passed away due to an illness. Later that year, the woman came over. She had with her a little boy. We were the same in many ways both physically and in personality. Physically, we were both fit and lean. We also had a light tan skin color, and we both had the same color eyes. Personality wise, we both liked to fool around, and we enjoyed writing our own stories. However, while he had blonde hair, I had a light brown. One day, however, when his mother and my father came home drunk, they began to beat me and molest me. The boy attacked them, defending me. But he pushed his mother to where she hit her head on a table and collapsed. The boy, thinking she was dead, ran away. However, his mother woke up later. Since the boy wasn't there to shield me, I grabbed a stick and proceeded to beat them out of retaliation. Every day from then on, I would always look for the boy but I wouldn't have much luck, and at home I was abused and molested, even raped by my father's friend. So I too eventually ran away.

"Cabot? Is it really you?" I whisper. The man nods and extends his arms, which I fall into.

"I thought I'd never see you again," I say, smiling.

"Same here, until I saw you with Robert," he says and a mischievous smile creeps onto his face. I blush.

"We just met," I say flatly. Cabot only chuckles and ruffles my hair.

"What are you doing here anyways?" Cabot asks, looking at me curiously.

"I'm Robert's aid," I say just as Robert enters my tent. He looks at me and Cabot, clearly bewildered.

"Sorry, am I interrupting something?" He asks, glancing around nervously.

"The reunion of a step brother and sister," Cabot says with a chuckle. Robert blinks, and his expression changes to a pleasant surprise.

"Dakota is your step sister?" Robert asks. I nod,

"That's wonderful," he says with a smile. "But, I just came to see if you wanted something to eat? Thomas told me that he didn't see you at dinner..." Robert adds, a concerned look on his face. Cabot also looked concerned.

"I'm fine! I just wasn't hungry, " I say with a reassuring smile, even though my heart filled with dread. "Now if you two could leave my tent, I would like some privacy," I chuckle. But as they left the tent, my smile dissolved and I put a hand to my face. Did I really just lie to my friend and my step brother?


	5. Chapter 4

I wake to a hand lightly slapping my face. I moan and push the hand away before sitting up and opening my eyes groggily. Of course its Cabot.

"Nice way to wake me up," I yawn, stretching. Cabot only chuckles.

"Well, it is your first day of duty, and it makes a good impression to rise early," he says, an amused look filling his eyes. I gasp, jumping out of bed. I walk to my trunk and begin to grab my white shirt with brown pants and boots.

"Oh! I'm nervous, what is he like?" I ask anxiously, shoving Cabot out of the tent so I could change.

"Well, he's actually shy and nervous, so it surprises me that he was able to approach, even talk to you. He isn't that fun when he's upset though, so don't do anything foolish..." he tells me through the cloth of my tent. I walk out, currently putting my light brown hair into a lazy ponytail.

"Alright, what else?" I ask as I finish tying my hair together with a tattered black ribbon.

"He has and will maintain good control of a lot of things in his life, uhm, he also has a lot of lady admirers, so watch out...," he finishes, casting a humored and mischievous look at me with a grin on his face. I punch his arm, my face beginning to flush. But over his shoulder I see Robert approaching us.

"Sh, here he comes," I say quickly, saluting. Cabot whirls around and also salutes.

"At ease," Robert says when he reaches us. I relax with a mental sigh. I notice that he is glancing around nervously and biting his lip.

"How is your morning so far, Forbes?" he asks, avoiding my gaze.

"Just fine sir. Might I ask how yours is?" Cabot replies, looking down at Robert. I grin a little at the height difference.

"Good," Robert replies with a smile. Then, with much difficulty I notice, Robert turns to me , still not meeting my eyes.

"Dakota, might I have a word with you in private?" he asks shyly.

"Yes sir," I say and follow him. I look over my shoulder at Cabot, who gives me a wink. I shoot him a glare before turning back around. Robert leads me into his tent. He halts and turns around to face me, still trying hard to avoid my eye contact.

"Well, today is your first day..." he says quickly. I nod, looking at him expectantly, hoping he will look into my eyes.

"And I already need you to perform some tasks," he says. "First, you will follow me when I go checking on the soldiers' training Second, I have a few holes in my attire, so if you could sew them together..." he drones off. I interrupt hi.

"Why are you acting like this? Yesterday we were acting like old friends," I say gently. He shuffles his feet nervously.

"That was a moment when I felt... brave," he falters. I give him a playful punch on the arm.

"Well, you can talk to me. I'm not going to attack you or anything," I say, smiling. Robert finally meets my eyes and gives a shy smile back, his cheeks turning red.

"Alright. Well, we should be going now..." he says and motions for me to follow him.


End file.
